Art

Art is a kind of incantation. Learn to cast it with everything you've got.

At the foundational level, art making isn’t just about how you use your hands; it’s also about how you use your eyes and your brain. So while you’ll put in plenty of hours at the drafting table, honing your craftsmanship and practicing your handiwork, your first task as an art student is learning how to really see.

Oglethorpe studio courses are designed to help you with that task. You’ll develop your visual acuity, and your understanding of visual language. You’ll also begin to consider artwork in its greater aesthetic and cultural context—seeing in a different way.

The course offering is comprehensive, with classes in drawing, painting, figure drawing, photography (darkroom and digital), printmaking, two-dimensional design, color theory, anatomy, and figure sculpture, all the way from the introductory level to the advanced.

Unique Tracks

Oglethorpe’s Studio Art program also allows you to get deep experience in a number of specialized tracks:

When you study art at Oglethorpe, the world is your canvas! And Atlanta’s flourishing art scene is just the beginning.

One of the best ways to level up as an artist? Study the masterworks of the great artists that have gone before you. Luckily, you’ll have plenty of opportunities here: there’s the world-class High Museum of Art (the leading art museum in the Southeast), Emory’s Michael C. Carlos Museum of Art, the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, the Museum of Design Atlanta, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (practically next door), and the Oglethorpe University Museum of Art (actually next door!).

The 7,000-square-foot Oglethorpe University Museum of Art is home to an impressive collection of significant works from ancient to contemporary, and all over the globe—plus several major rotating exhibitions each year. These shows have included modern masters like Braque, Chagall, Dalí, Matisse, Miró, Picasso, and others; they’ve highlighted artists from various regions; they’ve explored the cutting edge of contemporary art and evolving forms of media. For a student who’s serious about the practice of art, there’s no better place to learn, explore, and grow.

Atlanta offers many ways to build your own arts community. Get involved at the Goat Farm, a major driver of Atlanta’s contemporary art scene. Come out to see and be seen at monthly neighborhood art walks that tour the city’s dozens of galleries. Enjoy friendly outdoor festivals in Piedmont Park, Inman Park, Virginia Highlands, Old Fourth Ward, and more.

Take advantage of travel opportunities. For example, you can get a taste of the artist’s life with an interdisciplinary ten-day seminar in New York City. The trip includes visits to MoMA, the Met, the Frick, the Whitney, and the Guggenheim; a behind-the-scenes tour of Broadway; and an evening of classical music at the famous Carnegie Hall.

The Senior Art Exhibition is an annual gallery-style show that offers graduating students a chance to present their final portfolio, and share their work with their classmates, family, and friends.

Yes, it can be tough to make a living in the arts. But Oglethorpe art graduates have an edge that helps them thrive: our alumni boast an impressively high placement rate of 85 to 90 percent for graduate programs and careers in the arts.